Brinks: Judith Clark will appeal parole denial

Judith Clark, presently in jail for the 1981 Brinks truck theft, was denied parole on April 21, 2017.Wochit

Judith Clark, who’s at present in jail for her position within the 1981 Brinks theft, was denied parole on Friday, April 21, 2017.(Photograph: Submitted Photograph)

Judith Clark’s legal professionals stated they’ll attraction the state Parole Board’s denial of her early launch from life in jail for her participation in a 1981 Rockland County theft that led to the murders of two Nyack cops and a Brinks armored-automotive guard.

The attorneys — Michael Cardozo and Steven Zeidman — stated Tuesday the panel used illegitimate causes to disclaim Clark early launch after Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted her minimal sentence to 36 years.

Clark had been sentenced to seventy five years to life for her position as a getaway driver within the armored-automotive theft.

Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Chipper Brown have been killed by gunmen who jumped from the rear of a U-Haul van on the entrance to the state Thruway on Mountainview Avenue. Nyack Detective Arthur Keenan was shot and Officer Brian Lennon was injured.

The lawyers noted the parole board unit found Clark had been rehabilitated in prison but denied her early release. The agency’s appeals unit later upheld the parole rejection.

“New York courts have repeatedly ruled that (more was needed than) … the seriousness of the crime of conviction, something that can never be changed, is not a legitimate basis for denying parole, and yet that is exactly what the Parole Board did here,” the attorneys said in a news release. “New York law is clear that if a prisoner is found to be rehabilitated and presents no threat to society, she should be granted parole.”

Judith Clark, a convicted member of the Weather Underground, in her original booking photo after the Oct. 20, 1981, Brinks robbery in Nanuet and Nyack.(Photo: Rockland County Sheriff’s Department)

Clark is the third-longest serving woman in a New York prison. Cuomo, after interviewing her and noting her “exceptional strides in self-development,” granted her clemency which allowed her to apply for parole.